URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Introduction 13.1.1 Urbanisation is a natural consequence of economic changes that take place as a country develops. At the same time, urbanisation helps to contribute to the growth process at large. This is manifest in the increasing contribution of urban sector to national income. For instance, in 1950-51 the contribution of urban sector to India's GDP was estimated at only 29 per cent, which increased to 47 per cent in 1980-81 and is likely to rise to 60 per cent by the turn of the century.
13.1.2 The positive role of urbanisation is often over-shadowed by the evident deterioration in the physical environment and quality of life in the urban areas caused by widening gap between demand and supply of essential set-vices and infrastructure. This results from increasing population pressure on urban centres, most of which are financially and organisationally illequipped to respond to infrastructural needs. Public investment in urban infrastructure has also been less than adequate. The challenge of reorienting the urbanisation process, thus, lies in overcoming the infrastructural deficiencies and taking the best advantage of economic momentum inherent in urbanisation.
Urban Scene 13.2.1 The urban population of India according to the Population Census 1991 was 217.18 million spread over 3768 urban agglomera- tions/towns. The urban population has been growing at a much higher rate than the total and the rural population and as a result, its proportion in the total population has increased from around 11 percent in 1901 to about 26 percent in 1991. Also, the rate of growth of population has steadily risen from decade to decade except during 1981-91 when it was lower than the earlier decade.
13.2.2 There are wide variations amongst regions/States in the level of urbanisation (Table2). The Union Territories of Delhi (92.73 %) and Chandigarh (93.63%) are the most urbanised in the country anti the urban proportion is the lowest (8.47%) in Dadra & Nagar Haveli. Among the major States, Maharashtra is the most urbanised with 38.73 per cent of its population living in urban areas, followed by Gujarat (34.40%) and Tamil Nadu (34.20%).
13.2.3 Inter-state variation in the annual rate of growth of urban population and urban-rural growth differential (URGD) is more revealing. Except in Kerala, Gujarat and Maharashtra, the URGD is lower in all other States during 1981-91 than in 1971-81 (Table-2). Conspicuous deceleration of urban growth during 1981-91 was noticed in Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
13.2.4 The urban areas in the country, excluding Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, consist of 300 Class I urban agglomerations/cities, 345 Class II urban agglomerations/towns, 947 Class Ill urban agglomerations/towns, 1,167 Class IV urban agglomerations/towns, 740 Class V urban agglomerations/towns and 197 Class VI urban agglomerations/towns, making in all 3,696 urban agglomerations/towns (Table-3). The distribution of urban units among States and Union Territories is quite uneven. A comparison of decadal growth rate of urban population by size classes suggests significantly higher growth rate (46.9%) in class I towns compared to negative growth rate in class V and VI towns. However, if adjustment is made for re- classification of towns in different size classes in 1981 and 1991 censuses the difference in the decadal growth rate among the different size classes of towns is less marked.
13.2.5 The, Class I urban agglomerations/cities accounted for 65.20 percent of the urban population of the country in 1991. A further breakup of the population of cities indicates that a majority (50.5%) of the population of Class I urban agglomerations/cities lives in 23 metropolitan urban agglomerations/cities with a population of entire than a million each. These cities account for roughly one third of country's urban population. Furthermore, in India there are four mega cities namely Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Madras, with a population of more than five
344
* Includes 80 provisional towns of Assam.
** Provisional Population Census of India 1991, Paper-2.
Source: Census of India 1981 and Provisional Population census of India 1991. Note-- (1) Figures in brackets are percentages. (2)Decrease in the total number of towns in 1961 compared to 1951 was due to the application of uniform and rigid definition of urban areas adopted for the 1961 Census.
million each in 1991. Almost one-fourth of the population living in Class I urban agglomeration/cities in the country lives in mega cities.
13.2.6 The population in Class I urban agglomerations/cities has continued to increase at a faster rate (46.87 per cent) during 1981-91 than other towns. Considering the common set of towns, the decadal growth rate is 34.5%.
13.2.7 Growth of employment (main workers) in urban India during 1981-91 is recorded at 38.0% as against 26.1% in the country as a whole. The population growth in urban areas (36.2%) is close to that of employment growth. As the growth rate of labour force during the same period is expected to be higher than that of total population growth in urban areas, unemployment/ underemployment rate might have
345
gone up. With regard to the composition of main. workers for which only four broad categories (cultivator, agricultural labour, household industry and other workers) are available, there is no perceptible change between 1981 and 1991 as can be seen from Table 4. However, percentage employed in Household industry has increased to 5.6% from 4.9% in 1981.
Plan Performance Review
Thrust of -Urban Development Policy 13.3.1 The Seventh Plan asserted that planning of urban development should essentially be supportive of the economic, development in the country., It urged making use of industrial location policy to subserve regional and urban planning and suggested that a concerted effort should be made to channelise private industrial investment in the vicinity of small and medium towns to check migration of population to the metropolises. The identification of regional urban systems was suggested on the basis of regional characteristics and needs and functions of each town in its regional context. More explicitly" the needs of the poor were to be taken into account in all physical planning exercises. .The following were identified as the major constituents of a comprehensive plan for urban development:
(i) Planned and integrated development of small, and medium towns and cities along with slowing down of growth of the big metropolises; (ii) Revitalisation of civic bodies;
346
347
(iii) Thorough reforms of municipal tax systems and municipal administration in general;
(iv) Concentration on the improvement of slums and the provision of basic municipal services;
(v) Working out measures for regular devolution of funds from State Governments; and
(vi) Establishment of the necessary institutional framework for channeling capital funds for the improvement of urban infrastructure.
Programmes in the Seventh Plan 13.3.2 The Plan emphasised the following major programmes:-
(a) Environmental improvement of Urban Slums (EIUS) Scheme has been in operation in the State sector since 1974. The scheme benefitted about 10 million slum dwellers during the Seventh Plan and another 3.3 million during two Annual Plans (1990-91 and 1991-92).
(b) A Centrally Sponsored Scheme known as Urban Basic Services was introduced in 1986, with the primary objective of enhancing the survival and development of women and children of urban low income families.During 1990-91, the scheme was revised to bring about functional integration with EIUS and came to be known as Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP) with 100% Central funding.
(c) Scheme for Integrated Development of Small & Medium Towns (IDSMT) to provide complementary infrastructural support of critical significance was continued. During the Seventh Plan period 145 additional towns were covered.
(d) Development of National Capital Region around Delhi was aimed at providing infrastructural support to priority towns and the region as a whole.
(e) In the State sector, provisions were made for infrastructure facilities, civic amenities, and development of State capital projects.
(f) The Nehru Rojgar Yojana was launched in October, 1989. It is targeted towards persons living below the poverty line in urban areas. It has three components viz. Micro-enterprises, Wage employment and Shelter Upgradation.
13.3.3 A significant source of funding in the urban development sector during Seventh Plan and the Annual Plans 1990- 91, 1991-92 was external assistance. Total utilisation of external aid in 1990-91 alone was approximately Rs.280 crores.
An overview of Plan Outlay 13.3.4 Tables 5 and 6 indicate the approved outlays for Urban Development during the Seventh Plan and the Annual Plans, 1990-91 and 1991-92 for States and the Central Sector. Major features of the Plan outlay are summarised below:-
a) In financial terms the Annual Plans 1990-91 and 1991-92 showed a marked increase over the average expenditure per annum during the Seventh Plan, primarily due to introduction of NRY in 1989. However, the Annual Plan outlay in the central sector showed a decline in 1991-92.
b) ElUS continued to be the most significant programme in the urban sector with Seventh Plan outlay of Rs. 269.5 crores and Annual Plan outlay of Rs. 65.3 crores and Rs. 63.4 crores in 1990-91 and 1991 92 respectively.
Emerging Issues 13.3.5 The review of urban policy framework in historical perspective indicates that until the Sixth Plan (1980-85), the urban policies mainly addressed problems like housing, slum clearance, slum improvement and upgradation, preparation of Master Plans, development of small and medium towns, strengthening of municipal civic administration etc. The Seventh Plan made a new beginning by explicitly recognising the problems of urban poor which were
348
Table - 5 Approved Outlays - Urban
Development State - Sector
(Rs. in Lakhs)
Sl. STATES 1985- 1990-91 1991-92
90
No. Seventh
Plan
1 Andhra Pradesh 9000 3757 3540
2 Arunachal Pradesh 50 20 30
3 Assam 1200 363 378
4 Bihar 1900 1580 1734
5 Goa 665 144 200
6 Gujarat 13105 2295 3196
7 Haryana 2000 272 452
8 Himachal Pradesh 925 435 480
9 Jammu & Kashmir 3907 6791 6820
10 Karnataka 3000 1429 1786
11 Kerala 2500 529 989
12 Madhya Pradesh 7760 2826 3944
13 Maharashtra 16000 3600 7500
14 Manipur 755 540 141
15 Meghalaya 500 260 600
16 Mizoram 550 300 459
17 Nagaland 800 360 283
18 Orissa 650 1650 1710
19 Punjab 4075 4472 6866
20 Rajasthan 2371 815 1358
21 Sikkim 150 90 100
22 Tamil Nadu 16000 4296 4916
23 Tripura 700 327 350
24 Uttar Pradesh 24700 8350 6810
25 West Bengal 23220 8079 9360
Total - (States) 136483 53580 64002
26 A & N Islands 300 123 155
27 Chandigarh 6113 1550 1970.61
28 D & N Haveli 7 2 6.6
29 Daman & Diu - 35.2 15
30 Delhi 19770 10925 11000
31 Lakshadweep 0 25.1 3.5
32 Pondicherry 655 184 224
Total - (UTs) 2684512844.3 13374.71
Total - (States & UTs) 16332866424.3 77376.71
seen to be linked with creation of employment opportunities. It is now being recognised that urban policies can directly contribute to achieve the goals of poverty reduction and removal of unemployment and under-employment. During the last decade, the growth rate of employment in the urban areas averaged around 3.3% per annum, while the employment growth rate in the rural areas dropped to about 1.6 per cent for males.
13.3.6 Thus, urban areas have to be enabled to absorb larger increments to the labour force. Further, promotion of non- agricultural activities, upgradation of skills and infrastructure development of smaller towns will need added impetus.
13.3.7 The most glaring problem has been the high incidence of marginal employment and urban poverty. It is estimated on the basis of NSS 43rd round (1987-88 data) that 41.8 million people are below the poverty line. It is recognised that the incidence of marginal and low income employment is mostly in the informal sector, which accounts for large share of total employment in large cities. What is needed is upgradation of informal sector occupations and their integration with the urban economy at large.
13.3.8 The gap between demand and supply of infrastructural services has been continuously widening. Increasing pressure of population, particularly concentration of urban population in large cities and metros and escalating per capita cost of providing urban services account for deterioration of infrastructure services and amenities. The worst sufferers are the poor, whose access to the basic services like drinking water, sanitation, education and basic health services is shrinking.
13.3.9 Unabated growth of urban population has made the problems of urban housing more severe. The accumulated backlog in the urban housing along with the housing needs for the additions to the urban population has aggravated the problem further, resulting in proliferation of slums and squatter settlements and decay of city environment.
13.3. 10 Fast growth of urban population, spread of urban areas and spurt in secondary and terti-
349
Table - 6 Approved outlays on urban development: Central Sector
(Rs. in lakhs)
Sl. Name of Scheme Seventh Plan
No. 1985-90 1990-91 1991-92
1 2 3 4 5
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
1. I.D.S.M.T. 8800 2500 1500
2. Equity Support to HUDCO
(Infrastructure) 3500 200 450
3. Contribution to NCR
Planning Board 3500 1000 1400
4. Research & Training in
Urban & Regional 200 - 40
Planning
5. Development of Displaced
Persons Colonies 150 32 10
6. Urban Basic Services 500 2500 2300
7. Urban Transport Conso-
rtium Fund - 200 500
8. Nehru Rozgar Yojana - 12000 11300
9. Scheme for Educated
Employment Generation in - - 200
Urban Localities
10. Grants to urban local
Bodies through - - 200
HUDCO/UD& UWS Financing
Corporation
11. Removal & Collection of
cattle in Calcutta 150 - -
Total 16800 18432 17900
* Nehru Rozgar Yojana was started in 1989-90 and funds released in 1990-91.
ary activities have led to urban transport problems like severe traffic congestions, slowing down of vehicular movement, high air and noise pollution, longer journey hours, increasing costs of travel etc. Urban transport is an important service sector and plays a crucial role in the development of the urban economy and the time has come to take stock of the urban transport seenario.
13.3.11 In the context of the growing demand for urban services, the rationalisation and the augmentation of revenue system have not made commensurate progress resulting in increasing dependence of urban local bodies (ULB) on the financial assistance from the States and Central Government. Own revenues of the local bodies are not adequate even to meet operation and maintenance expenditure. In the case of smaller ULB's, the weak financial position is also combined with lack of organisational and technical capabilities.
13.3.12 The weak financial and organisational base of ULB's has, in turn, led to highly subsidised and inequitable supply of various urban services with critical dependence on State grants.